This invention relates generally to reducing undesirable audio signals, and, more particularly, to reducing undesirable audio signals using portable devices.
Portable electronic devices of various types have become prevalent for everyday use. For example, it is not uncommon to find consumers today using cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, portable music players such as MP3 (Moving Pictures Expert Group, Layer 3) players, and other types of music players.
Portable devices of the current generation are generally more flexible, robust, and even smaller in size than their predecessors. The relative small size of today's portable devices makes it convenient for users to carry them to practically any desired destination. Users on the move, however, are sometimes compelled to use the portable devices in an unfriendly environment where undesirable audio signals may be prevalent. For example, while riding in an automobile, a user of a wireless phone may be subjected to a constant, unappealing or disturbing sound of the automobile engine. As another example, a user attempting to listen to music at home on a portable device may be disturbed by the undesirable sound of a vacuum cleaner. The users of such portable devices may similarly be disturbed by a variety of other undesirable audio signals in other environments.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved way of reducing undesirable audio signals.